It is sometimes overlooked that in collective redundancy situations, as well as informing and consulting with employee representatives, an employer has to notify the Secretary of State (using form HR1, available here).

Where an offence under this section committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any other person purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate is guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Prosecutions under this provision had been thought to be extremely rare – perhaps non-existent. However, newspaper reports suggest that prosecutions have recently been brought against directors of City Link and Sports Direct for failure to notify the Secretary of State of redundancies.

Notifying the Secretary of State in good time needs to be at the top of the to-do list for any HR manager preparing for collective redundancies.